electric car sales

It’s good news, bad news time at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. First the good news. Global electric car sales (including plug-in hybrids) surged 63% in the third quarter of this year and are up 23% since the second quarter. BNEF is now confident EV sales will top 1,000,000 units this year. The bad news? China accounted for almost all those increases.

Sales of electric cars totaled 287,000 in July, August, and September with China responsible for half of them. Sales in other markets are trending up gradually, but nothing like what is happening in China. The increase in EV sales in China can be traced directly to a number of government policies that strongly encourage people to purchase an electric car instead of a conventional car. Many policy makers are worried their own incentive programs are too generous but the Chinese experience makes it clear if you want people to buy electric, you have to make it worth their while.

The number of electric cars in the world has doubled since this time a year ago, according to the International Energy Agency. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that electric cars still only account for 0.2% of all the cars in the world. The rest are conventional vehicles that flit along the highways and byways of the world, spewing who knows what out of their tail pipes.

Let’s get back to the good news. Sales of electric cars are accelerating and anyone who understands exponential growth can see that it won’t be long before the total number of electric cars in the world begins to shift from negligible to significant.

The latest IEA report says, “China was by far the largest electric car market, accounting for more than 40 percent of the electric cars sold in the world and more than double the amount sold in the United States. It is undeniable that the current electric car market uptake is largely influenced by the policy environment.”

Is it true that people aren’t interested in buying electric cars, as Ford CEO Mark Fields claims? EV sales are hovering around 1% of the market in the US despite all that has been written about them and significant increases in the number of electric car charging stations available. “Ah hah!” Fields and his colleagues say. “See? We told you so.” Gina Coplon-Newfield, the director of electric vehicles initiative at the Sierra Club sees things differently. “When manufacturers say buyers aren’t interested in buying electric vehicles, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” she says.

How To Sell Millions Of EVs

John Sullivan of Sullivan Chevrolet says there is a way to turn thousands of EV sales into millions. “The key obstacles to greater adoption are social rather than technological,” he tells Charged EVs. He puts part of the blame on articles online and in the press that are inaccurate or confusing. Many of them are bought and paid for by fossil fuel entities like Koch Industries that are furiously trying to protect what they see as their God-given right to destroy the planet in pursuit of profits.

Customers Want Answers To Questions

Shoppers who have questions seldom turn into customers. There is a lot of confusion about the differences between hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric cars. Many people do not understand how to find electric car chargers or how they work. The Sierra Club recently enlisted the help of 308 people to visit dealerships across the country to shop for an electric car.

One third of the dealer representatives never mentioned available federal and state rebates or other available incentives. One salesperson in Massachusetts told a customer that range anxiety was not an issue because there were wires buried under the asphalt on all major roads that recharged the cars as they drove. At 14% of the stores visited, shoppers were told they could not test drive an EV because the models on hand hadn’t had their batteries charged.

The revolution started by Tesla and Elon Musk is gaining momentum. When the Model S hit the streets in 2012, it was a curiosity. Many scoffed at the idea of electric cars and predicted their swift demise. Five years later, charging infrastructure is exploding, more people are aware of the advantages of electric cars, and the world’s automakers are rushing to get more of them into showrooms.

Mercedes, led by Dieter Zetsche, owner of the grandest mustache in the auto business, says it is accelerating its electric car plans. Instead of having 10 models in showrooms by 2025, it now plans to do so by 2022. The three-year difference is what happens when the Tesla Model S starts outselling the mighty Mercedes S-Class. Moving the timetable forward will require a “fundamental” shift in the company’s business model and require an investment of $10,000,000 according to Daimler Chairman Manfred Bischoff, who addressed a shareholders meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, TechCrunch reports.

Meeting ever tighter EU emissions regulations is part of the reason for the acceleration. Following the Volkswagen diesel cheating debacle, Europeans are less inclined to buy diesel-powered cars, which are a large part of Mercedes sales on the Old Continent. The move will also promote Mercedes’ plans to compete in the world of autonomous driving and urban mobility.

I love looking at the Dutch, French, German, and Norwegian electric car sales data, but looking at the bigger European picture is where the real fun is. Throwing everything together from the different countries, it’s hard to have a good idea where they will fall out. Plus, the numbers get bigger.

Before we get into the numbers, though, let me get some big disclosures out there. The registration numbers come from José Pontes, who does a tremendous job pulling together figures from a large variety of official and unofficial sources. However, I used to try this myself, and I can tell you this: you basically can’t find complete registration numbers for any country. So, Jose has to “estimate” for certain types of vehicles and certain models in each of the countries. Then there are some countries where he isn’t able to collect the data at all. Nonetheless, pulling together as many numbers as he can for several European countries, including the ones with the biggest electric car markets, gives us a big-picture view of the European electric car market.

So, using José’s numbers, below are the top 25 best-selling electric cars in Europe, followed by some more comments about the cream of the crop.

So, it’s a tight race at the top… not! The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is crushing it. Luckily, I finally got to test drive this vehicle recently, so I’ll soon drop a piece here explaining why I think it’s so popular (…but the big points are sort of obvious).

While the Outlander PHEV has a solid hold on #1, the much younger Volkswagen Golf GTE is racing for a spot to the podium too, reaching #2 in May, and now just inches below its twin sibling, the #5 Volkswagen e-Golf, in terms of January through May registrations. I imagine it will be sitting in the #5 spot once June numbers come in.

But yes, back to the metal winners. The Nissan Leaf has a safe hold on #2 for January through May, but fell way down to #5 in May.

The Tesla Model S is nipping at its heels, though, and you know you wouldn’t feel comfortable with this beast right behind you in any race.

All in all, the #7 BMW i3 and #8 Audi A3 e-tron are putting in a pretty good showing, still accounting for about 7% of the European electric car market each.

It’ll be fun to see the numbers as they roll in next month. I think it’s safe to say the Outlander PHEV is going to hold onto #1 for the rest of the year, but spots #2 through #6 are quite close. We could see a lot of shifting around before this year is up.

China is the world’s largest and fastest growing car market. Every car maker in the world wants a piece of the action but first they have to please the Chinese government. According to Bloomberg, when it comes to letting foreign manufactures build factories in the country, China says build electric cars – or else! China wants a 28% improvement in average fuel economy by 2020. The only way manufacturers can meet that target is with plug in hybrid or electric cars. It also wants 5,000,000 “new energy” vehicles on Chinese roads by then. That’s about 4.5 million more than there are today.

Toyota in particular has had harsh words for electric cars recently. Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, told reporters at a test drive event recently that electric cars will damage the electrical grid. “If you were to charge a car in 12 minutes for a range of 500 km (310 miles), for example, you’re probably using up electricity required to power 1,000 houses. That totally goes against the need to stabilise electricity use on the grid. He went on to say, “I don’t think such cars will become popular.”

That is not the message the Chinese government wants to hear but it may be the truth. Sales of electric cars in China have been well below expectations, despite substantial government incentives. For instance, in many Chinese cities, a person cannot obtain a license plate for a new car automatically. New registrations are limited and decided by lotteries. But anyone who buys an EV gets to register and drive it immediately. That’s a huge advantage if you want a car now, but Chinese buyers are still buying EVs in modest numbers.

Much of that has to do with a limited infrastructure for charging electric and plug in cars. Not having enough SuperCharger locations has put a big dent in the sales of the Tesla Model S in China. Even though Tesla thinks it has done a good job building chargers in China, buyers disagree, forcing Tesla to devote a lot of time and money to fix the problem. Hiroji Onishi, Toyota’s chief executive officer for the China region, said on April 21 that because President Xi Jinping is accelerating the EV push, “we believe infrastructure including charging stations will be developed quite rapidly.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Toyota will roll out the Leahead and Ranz all-electric brands with its China partners Guangzhou Automobile Group and FAW Group starting this year. The models will make China the only market where Toyota sells EVs. At the recent Shanghai Auto Show, the Toyota stand featured a Prius hybrid in the center. The two joint venture all electric cars were relegated to a spot in the background.

“It is the cost of entry of being here,” says James Chao, managing director of IHS Automotive in Shanghai, says of the joint-venture electric vehicles. “A lot of it is kind of for show, and they just want to please the government.” Adds Ashvin Chotai, managing director of researcher Intelligence Automotive Asia, “They’ll do some token launches and token sales, but I’m not expecting any waves. This is just a distraction, an unwanted headache.”

To no one’s surprise, the Nissan LEAF led US electric car sales in November, with a total of 2,687 sales. It commanded ⅓ of the electric car market in November (excluding Tesla, of course, since we don’t have Tesla numbers and “estimating” them is now just a big guessing game). Nissan also set a new November electric car sales record! No electric car has ever seen so many US sales in November.

Despite dropping 30% compared to its November 2013 sales, the Chevy Volt still managed to hold onto second place. It ended up with 1,336 sales, 16% of the market.

The BMW i3 took third (coincidentally), with 816 sales and 10% of the market. It was followed closely by the Ford Fusion Energi (752 sales / 9% of the market) and Ford C-Max Energi (644 sales / 8% of the market).

In November 2013, the LEAF had 27% of the market (2003 sales) and the Volt 26% (1920 sales). The Toyota Prius Plug-in was then third (15% / 1100 sales), and the Ford C-Max Energi and Ford Fusion Energi were fourth and fifth, respectively.

For January through November 2014, the Nissan LEAF has a commanding lead at 25,010 sales (30% of the market), followed by the Chevy Volt (15,767 sales / 19% of the market), Toyota Prius Plug-in (11,031 sales / 13% of the market), Ford Fusion Energi (10,018 sales / 12% of the market), and Ford C-Max Energi (7,249 sales / 9% of the market). Of course, the BMW i3 was introduced in the middle of the year, and sales didn’t get going for a few months (presumably because of supply issues). The Toyota Prius Plug-in was performing very well for many months, but has dropped off dramatically. It’s hard not to assume that’s a supply/production issue. However, the BMW i3 and two Ford Energi Models could simply be eating into its share of the market.

As I’ve noted previously, there seem to be 5 companies that are somewhat or very serious about selling electric cars: Nissan, BMW, Ford, GM, and (of course) Tesla. Hopefully Volkswagen and Kia (and others!) will join them, but we’ll have to wait to see.

Here are a couple of tables if you want to examine the numbers more yourself:

As you can see in the last two rows of that table just above, it seems the Chevy Volt has lost market share to the Ford Energi models, Toyota Prius Plug-in, and BMW i3. How much of this is due to supply, we have no idea.

In a recent interview with Germany’s Manager Magazin Online, Tesla Motors’ Chief Designer Jerome Guillen made the comment that the company is aiming to build and sell at least 500,000 EVs a year by the year 2020.

While this certainly isn’t the first time that one of Tesla’s higher-ups have made such a bold statement (Elon Musk, I’m looking at you), the comment is well worth taking note of. It reiterates a very bold plans.

Amongst the other interesting comments made by Guillen in the interview, is the fact that there will never be any hybrids or gasoline-using vehicles produced by the company (not really a surprise – “No Compromises,” as Guillen put it); that of all of Tesla’s competitors in the industry, Guillen is probably most impressed by BMW’s i line of vehicles — the i3 and i8, specifically; and that he would love for Tesla to have more (and stronger) competition – as Elon Musk’s whole goal in creating the company was to spur the transition to a “sustainable transportation concept.”

Humorously, Guillen offered “No comment” when asked about his former employer, Daimler, selling off its shares of Tesla. “Please understand that I am- and on that subject, (I) can not comment,” as he put it.

Not that you need to this interview to get excited about Tesla’s immediate future – the Gigafactory and the Model X SUV can certainly do that for you themselves – but it does seem a good reminder of how interesting the next year or two looks to be for the company. Keep an eye on the stock.

Electric cars may have finally reached the tipping point where society en masse begins moving towards them, at least in America and Europe. In the developing world though, another kind of EV revolution is taking place, albeit on two wheels instead of four.

The latest study from Navigant Research says that in the next ten years, 55 million electric motorcycles and scooters will be sold, and more importantly, markets outside of China have the potential for huge growth.
The Chinese economy currently accounts for 98% of electric two-wheeler sales, but in both Europe and North America consumers are warming up to the notion. For one, electric motorcycles and scooters are a lot cheaper than their automotive equivalents, and yet a Brammo Empulse, which can be had for as little as $6,995 right now thanks to a special deal, can travel up to 80 miles between charges.

That’s about as far as the Nissan LEAF, albeit under favorable city-driving conditions. Meanwhile, many electric scooters have a range of 25 to 30 miles, and while they may not be as fast, they’re a cost effective alternative to public transportation or a car. Another benefit is that the smaller battery packs don’t need home charging stations; a normal outlet is often enough, they public charging stations can top off many of these vehicles in just an hour or two. Meanwhile electric two-wheelers deliver just as much fun and performrance as their combustion-powered counterparts, which is why companies like Harley-Davidson are getting on the hype train.

Still, it all comes back to cost, and while electric cars are certainly getting cheaper, so are electric motorcycles and scooters. Pretty soon there could be a negligible price difference between combustion and electric drivetrains, and when faced with the option, many consumers in urban areas and developing nations are likely to choose the vehicle that costs a lot less to operate.

BMW has embraced electric cars and hybridization in a big way, launching the hot-selling i3 electric city car and the exciting BMW i8 electric supercar to rave reviews already. BMW isn’t finished yet, though, and has plans to electrify even more of its models, including the German company’s other sub-brand, Mini.

Will The BMW i Lineup Boost BMW’s Market Share?

I’ve discussed it many times: I’m confident that electric vehicles will replace gasmobiles within the next decade or so. There are so many clear benefits that electric cars have over gasmobiles, including convenience, acceleration, and drive quality.

Electric car sales more than tripled from 2010 to 2011, increased 2½ times from 2011 to 2012, and more than doubled again from the end of 2012 to the end of 2013. As some have explained, electric cars may be ~50% of the way toward market domination. Battery costs have come down fast, which is an important driver of that growth, and that trend isn’t likely to stop anytime soon, especially as it is getting boosted by economies of scale.

You would think that industry insiders would see the writing on the wall: electric vehicles are coming, and they are coming to take over the market. However, as we’ve seen many times before, established industries have a lot of inertia and industry insiders have a hard time seeing that they need to transition to a disruptive technology… or be eaten. It has happened in many industries, but I like to call it “the Kodak moment,” in reference to Kodak’s great fall and a slogan that teenagers today have probably never heard (because of Kodak’s great fall).

Industry Inertia & Denial

The automobile industry is one of the largest in the world, and I think that only increases industry inertia and denial. However, a few major auto manufacturers seem to see what’s around the corner. Nissan-Renault is one of them, with strong statements coming from Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn about the future of electric vehicles, and I’d say the other big proponent of the electric vehicle future among major automakers is German giant BMW.

BMW Already Benefiting From BMW i Lineup

BMW hasn’t just introduced a couple of electric cars. It hasn’t simply modified gas versions of vehicles to make them electric, like most auto manufacturers have done. No, it has an entire program focused on developing electric cars. Its BMW i program, as it’s called, was kicked off in 2013 with the launch of the BMW i3 and the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid electric supercar. However, BMW plans to eventually have electric versions of all of its vehicles.

The BMW i3 is very nicely priced between the Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf, and its performance fits the pricing. It is a clear performance and comfort level above most electric cars. As I wrote when I reviewed the i3, it’s the nicest car I’ve ever driven (Note: I’ve driven a number of nice gasmobiles, but not a Tesla Model S).

Not surprisingly, the i3 is bringing in a lot of first-time BMW customers. In fact, last I read, 80% of BMW i3 buyers came from other brands. That’s impressive, and a great sign that BMW is moving in the right direction.

BMW is bringing the i3 to the Chinese market later this year. It is supposed to be selling it all around the US, not just in select markets (like many automakers do with the electric options). It is selling the i3 across its home country of Germany, as well as much of Europe. And it already has a nice market of supplementary BMW i3 products.

But it’s not just about where you are selling and to whom you are selling; it’s how much you are selling.

Luckily, the news is good on that front as well. Earlier this year, BMW announced that it would be increasing production to match strong demand.

We don’t know for sure which car companies are going to lead the electric car market once it grows to dominate the overall car market, but history has shown that companies that lead the way into a new market tend to benefit greatly from that leadership. Look at Toyota’s success in the hybrid market. Look at Google’s success in the search engine market. Look at Microsoft’s success in the software market. Look at Apple’s success! BMW is certainly one of the first serious movers in the electric vehicle market. It has an aim of selling 100,000 electric vehicles by 2020, which isn’t a great amount, but for it’s higher-end target market, that may not be a bad target. Furthermore, BMW is one of the only companies I’ve seen announce electric car sales targets.

Also, targets can be raised. In fact, it’s quite good press to say that you are exceeding your targets. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw BMW raise its electric car sales targets before too long. Eventually, I think BMW could see strong market growth from being bullish about electric cars. But we’ll have to see how bullish it ends up being, how innovative, and how much better than the competition.

When Toyota first launched the Lexus brand at the start of the 1990s, many wondered whether the Japanese could effectively compete with the dominant German luxury car brands. Lexus’ flagship LS looked like a Mercedes, was quiet like a Mercedes, and – in the end – handily outsold its German rival in several markets. That performance over 20-odd years has established Lexus as a luxury car heavyweight. Recently, though, a new American brand has come on the scene, and many wonder if the Americans in Silicon Valley can compete with the dominant Lexus luxury brand.

At the moment, Tesla is selling all the Model S sedans it can make. Mercedes, too, is enjoying a bit of a renaissance as sales of its latest S class sedan are up 81% over the last version. Lexus, however, has seen sales of its LS model drop 20% in the last year – and it seems like they’re pinning that drop on the Model S.

“Many of the buyers in that (high-end luxury sedan) segment want what’s new, and they’re trying it,” said Lexus’ VP of Marketing, Brian Smith. “They’ll probably come back (to Lexus) … I think the question remains to be seen how many people will buy a second Tesla.”

Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me, and I expect the new Model X to take a serious bite out of Lexus’ excellent RX450h hybrid SUV sales while the upcoming Model 3 takes aim at the brand’s segment-leading ES300h, as well. That’s just me, though – what do you think? Is Smith right, or is Lexus (and its parent company, Toyota’s) “no EV” stance on electric cars on the wrong side of history?

The Chinese EV market saw a 38% year-on-year increase in unit sales in 2013, as compared to 2012, according to the most recent figures — for a total of 17,642 EVs sold in the market in 2013. In 2012, total EV sales were 12,791 units.

Those figures look like they’re going to be easily eclipsed this year, though, as sales this year have quite a bit better — over 7,209 EVs have been sold in just the first four months of the year, for a market-share of 0.11%. With generous corporate and consumer subsidies set to kick-in in the near future, the sales should continue to improve.

>Based on certified data and past performances, the presumed Top 5 had plenty of changes regarding (the previous year’s) ranking, with a new leader, the BYD Qin, selling 3,294 units and collecting 46% on the market, which is also on its way to obliterate Chery’s QQ3 EV yearly record (5,305 units in 2012). One could say that the Qin is shaking things up, eh?

The Chery QQ3 EV dropped to #2 by a great margin, selling roughly 1,600 units, followed by the BYD e6, up one position and doubling sales (881 registrations) compared to a year ago (is it the Qin-factor spreading to the older e6?), while the JAC J3 EV dropped two positions to #4, with some 800 sales.

So, essentially, the EV sales in 2013 in a country of 1.36 billion (China) were only just slightly higher than double the sales in a country of 5 million (Norway) — 17,642 compared to 7,882. Really drives home the disparity in sales between the two, doesn’t it? The markets/environments are of course quite different, but no doubt lessons could be learned.

With regard to the relatively fast adoption of EVs in Norway (and China), the main drivers are hard to ascertain exactly, but there are a number of factors that no doubt contribute, including: strong incentives, awareness, good infrastructure, and negative incentives.

Despite the incredible adoption rate of all-electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, makers of smaller EVs like the Smart Electric Drive and recently-updated Mitsubishi iMiEV are facing weak demand – which has led some people within Renault-Nissan to rethink the company’s strategy in re: an electric Renault Twingo.

“We’re not in a situation where the market has followed our forecasts,” Chief Performance Officer for Renault, Jerome Stoll said in an interview with Automotive News. “People haven’t yet reached the point where they feel the need to have an electric vehicle for full daily use. People need to feel that need to shift to electric models.”

Still, it’s not all bad news. Renault delivered more than 19,000 electric cars last year, on top of Nissan’s own strong Leaf sales, out of a total of 2.6 million Renault-branded cars and light commercial vehicles. The company, then, is still on track for its 2020 goal, even without the electric subcompacts. As for Smart and Mitsubishi, it looks like their dealers are giving them a different story, since they seem committed to developing their EVs.

We’ll have more on the next iMiEV and Smart Electric Drive models, of course, as the news develops. Stay tuned!

Granted, other cars have sold in great numbers and have driven further in that time, than the Nissan Leaf – but not on purely electric power (cars like the Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius PHEV are plug-in hybrids, which have gasoline engines as well as electric motors moving them along).

You can check out Nissan’s official statement on the milestone, below …

Nissan, the global leader in electric vehicle (EV) sales, achieved another milestone this month as Dallas residents Todd and Lisa Bolt made Nissan LEAF the first all-electric model to hit 50,000 sales in the U.S. The Bolt family took delivery of their black LEAF SL earlier this month at AutoNation Nissan of Lewisville.

Thanks to enthusiastic owner advocates, robust public charging infrastructure and the launch of a successful free charging promotion, Dallas – and the state of Texas – have become hot growth markets for LEAF. So far in 2014, LEAF sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have grown by about 50 percent over the previous year, with that growth set to accelerate faster thanks in part to the introduction of a new state tax rebate of up to $2,500 on the purchase or lease of a new Nissan LEAF.

“Beyond the simple economics of not buying gas, we’ve been impressed with how well the LEAF drives,” said Todd Bolt, a pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake. “When we show the LEAF off to family and friends, they’re surprised that the car is so quiet and rides so well. The LEAF does everything we need day-to-day, and given the financial savings, I don’t know why we’d buy another gas car.”

Electric vehicle ownership has taken hold at Gateway Church, where both Todd and Lisa work, after an executive pastor did the math and decided to buy a Nissan LEAF. Now, more than 20 employees are in the fold, jokingly referring to themselves as the “Blessed LEAFs Club.”

Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are among 10 launch markets for “No Charge to Charge,” a new promotion that provides two years of no-cost public charging to new LEAF buyers who took delivery of their car after April 1, 2014. The national promotion is modeled after a successful pilot program launched in Dallas and Houston last fall with Houston-based NRG eVgo.

“With ‘No Charge to Charge,’ the new EV tax credit and enthusiastic new owners like the Bolt family, Dallas is poised to climb the ranks of leading LEAF sales markets,” said Toby Perry, director, EV Marketing for Nissan. “Texas is a great indicator that the right mix of customer awareness and strategically placed charging can lead to rapid EV adoption, and we expect to use that model to grow our sales in markets across the U.S.”

With nearly 115,000 global sales since launch, Nissan LEAF is the world’s top-selling electric vehicle. LEAF seats up to five passengers and boasts an estimated driving range on a fully-charged battery of 84 miles and MPGe ratings of 126 city, 101 highway and 114 combined. With a starting price of less than $30,000, LEAF is competitively priced with similar gas-powered cars after applicable tax credits, while providing the benefits of lower running costs and less scheduled maintenance.

LEAF is powered by an advanced lithium-ion battery and an 80kW motor that provides a highly responsive, fun-to-drive experience. A Nissan LEAF can be charged to 80 percent of its full capacity in about 30 minutes using its available quick charge port and a quick charger. Charging at home through a 220V outlet is estimated to take approximately five hours with the 6.6 kW onboard charger (approximately eight hours with the S grade’s standard 3.6 kW charger).

… and check out the (frankly, much more interesting) Nissan Leaf milestone infographic, presented by Nissan, below to learn more about the good that Leaf drivers are doing for their wallets, their neighborhoods, and the world. Enjoy!

Featured Motorcycle Posts

Advertisement

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.